Method of removing deleterious gases.



P. H. THOMAS. METHOD OFREMOVING DELETERIOUS GASES. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 23,-1904.

981,497, Patented Ja11.10,1911.

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emon or REMOVING. nnnnrnnrous GASES! To all whom it may'cmwem Be: itknown that I, PERCY Hy. THOMAS; a citizen of the United States, and resident of East Grange, county of Essex, State' of New Jersey, have invented certain newand use- '-ful Improvements in Methods of Removing Deleterious Gases, of which the following isa specification.- The idea of obtaining a high degree of vacuum without the use of an external pump which is itself capable of exhausting agiven chamber or receptacle to the required degree.

has been disclosed by me in an application SerialNumber 190,283, filed January 23,

-190t.' In the said application, show and which is-afterwardsealed off. Chemical or other means for producing and expelling the vap'ors may beemployed.

' panying drawing which is an elevation and The present invention isgenerally similar to that/above referred to, but instead of relying upon the expelling power of-heat or of chemical or other means alone for causing the vapors to pass out through the exit tube' and'thns-remove the deleterious gases from the chamber, I provide a mechanical vacuum remote end of the exit tube, forpump ,atthe the: withdrawal of the vapors assisting inand gases.

The invention is illustrated in the accompart section of anapparatus adapted to secure the objectsof this invention.

' In the drawing I have represented'as .-move injurious gases,

the body from which it is desired to re-- a tube 1 supplied with mercury electrodes, 2 constituting oneforn'i of a well-known gas or vapor electric apparatus.., The tube l v is supplied with enlargement-S, 4 and 3,

which serve as condensing chambers. 'In

.the present instance I represent both elec Specification' of Letters Patent. Application filed January 23; 1904. Serial Noi'190,28 4;

of the electrode 5.

lIP p-7 could not of to inside of the chamber and i a mechanical pump,

and 5, the whole liquid by Patented anisiog 191 i.

trodes as being formed of mercury, but one of them-may be of some solid material, such as'iron. To' one end of "the" apparatus'I connect an exit tube, 6, with which is connected a mechanical pump, 7, of any'preferred' type. Around the apparatus to. be

exhausted I place a heat retaining shield, 8, and underneath the apparatus I locate a jet 'of flame, or other source of heat, 9.

The operation of freeing the chamber .1- from injurious gasesconsi'sts in lighting the jet 9 and applying a high degree of heat to the container 1 throughout its length thereby vaporizing some of the mercury At the same time I may apply suction to the remote end of the. tube 6 through the medium of the pump 7 there-- by assisting the natural tendency of the vapor to pass out through the tube 6 under the influence of the. heat applied asdescribed;

I have found in practice that 'while the itself be relied-upon produce a sufficiently high vacuum in the chamber 1, yet such a pump combined witlrthe application of heat to the tube or container will producea very high (legrce of vacuum with a considerably smaller apthe tube 6 is sealed off, however. while the forces tending to expel or withdraw the vapors from the, tube are atwork. The economy in the application of heat is not only desirable initself, but may-constitute an important factor in the operation when. thecontainer is of such acharactcr or composition as would makeit likely to be injured heat.

When the removal of noxious gases or va porsisaccOinplished by the process herein described, it is PUSSIblQ'tO so proportion the amount of work done by the pumping appavplication of heat, it being umle'rstoodthat.

-or destroyed by the application of excessive I ratns and by the. application of heat as to secure the best economy of operation.

In describing the pumping apparatus as I wish to exclude the use of a mercury pump which in itself might be suflicient to secure anydesired degree of vacuum in the container.

Instead of causing the vaporization of a of the vapor by the same means, I may emheat and the expulsion ofa portion ploy chemical or other meansfor producing I 4 a vapor and expelling a portion thereof.

' The narrow throat 10 serves a criticalfunction in the operation of the device described herein, inasmuch as it reduces the cross-section of the passage through which the vapor of mercury or other vapor utilized to expel the deleterious gases inclosed within the chamber pass. This reduction of the cross-section serves to increase the velocity I of the expelling gases or vapors until it exducing the pressure ceeds that of the diffusion of any of the deleterious gases on the pumpsideof the apparatus. When the exhaustion iscomplete or carried to a satisfactory limit, the apparatus .may be sealed off at any pointnot nearer to the pump than the narrow throat 10.

It is well known that certain chemical processes which can be excited by suitable means produce large volumes of gases or vapors. Gases or vapors formed by such a chemical process may be utilized in place of the vapor produced from the mercury within the chamber by heat to secure exhaustion and when the process is sufficiently complete the chemical production of gases may be discontinued by the suppression of the exciting means. In. applieants companion cases Serial Number 190,283, filed January 23rd, 1904, and Serial Number 265,503, filed June 16th, 1905 as well as in applicants patents 806,853 issued December 12th, 1905 and No. 845,670 issued February 26th, 1907 are made claims covering related subject matter to that claimed herein.

I claim as my invention 1. In a vapor electric apparatus, a container having a suitable exit passage provided with a narrow throat, and an exhaust tube, a volatilizable fillld therem, external means for partially removing the pressure in the exhaust tube delivered to vaporizing a and for removing products said exhaust tube, means for portion of such fluid and cansing the produced vapor to pass rapidly through the container and means for sealing ofl" said container before the cessation of the rapid passage of vapor through said narrow throat.

2. A vapor electric apparatus includin a container provided with an exit tube having a discharge outlet, means for producing a vapor in said container, and causing it to pass rapidly through the container with a velocity greater than the diffusing velocity of discharge gases, means for partially rein the discharge outlet and for removing vapors appearing at said outlet, and a narrow throat in said tube nearer the container than the dischar e out let, adapted for sealing off during t e'exhaust of said vapor at said velocity.

3. The combination with a hermetically sealed apparatus including a container having an exhaust tube with a constricted throat and a discharge portion, cury within sa1d container, a heat jacket surrounding said container, means for produc-- ing heat and vaporizing a portion of said mercury, a mechanical air pump adapted to partially remove the air and other gases and vapors in said discharge portion, means for producing a velocity of vapor in said restricted throat superior to the maximum rate of dlifuslon of the gases in the exhausted portion and means for sealing off the container during the maintenance of such velocity at a point no further remote from the container than said narrow throat.

4. The method of manufacture of vacuum vapor ap aratus containing a volatilizable liquid an requiring a high degree of purity of vapor, which consists in eonnectin the interior of the apparatus to an exhaust chamber, reducing the pressure in the exhaust chamber below atmospheric pressure but above the final pressure of exhaustion for the apparatus, vaporizing a portion of the liquid within the apparatus to Wash out the foreign gases within the chamber into the exhaust chamber, maintaining a velocity of vapor discharge greater than the diffusion rate backward of foreign gases and sealing off the container upon the securing of the proper degree of purity therein while maintaining the discharge vapor velocity above the critical value. 5

5. The method of exhausting a vessel containing volatilizable material, which consists in driving foreign gases from the vessel by the convective action of vapor raised to an abnormally high pressure within the chamber, preventing the return of said dispelled gases by the maintenance of a superior internal pressure and outward velocity of vapor from the chamber, and closing the chamber during the maintenance of the abnormal pressure, and the outward velocity of the vapor.

Signed" at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of January, A. D...1904.

- PERCY H. THOMAS. Witnesses:

WM. H. CAPEL, I GEORGE STOCKBRIDGE.

of a body of mer-' 

